5 Actionable Strategies to Ensure a Debt-Free Life
The society we live in is characterized by consumerism and there are multitudes of compelling adverts encouraging people to continue spending on unnecessary things. Definitely, there are some items that are worth your cash but you still need to cut back on certain expenses.
The cost of living has been rising constantly but the wages have remained the same for years. As a result, the working class is plagued by debt. If you don’t have the necessary knowledge and tools, maintaining a great financial profile becomes quite difficult.
While people may view debt differently, eliminating the entire debt is not only a critical goal but also a great achievement. Whether the aim is clearing all credit card debt or other long-term bad credit loans, you have the capacity to break free and enjoy life without worries. Here, you’ll find some strategies to get you on the path to financial freedom.
Evaluate all your outstanding debts
By now you have probably come across the terms bad debts and good debts. This issue has led to controversial views between financial experts from different schools of thought. One faction believes that there is no such thing as good debt while the other one swears by the existence of the bad and good debt. The truth is that some forms of debts are less threatening than others.
Basically, bad credit comes with astronomical interest rates and a good example is a credit card debt. While these can help you in making purchases, the cost becomes higher with time. Nevertheless, payday loans are more brutal since the APR can easily exceed 300%.
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A good debt is any form of financing that is offered with low interests and is used to acquire a needed purchase like a house. Over time, the assets will appreciate making the borrowing a good financial decision. When you decide to pursue financial freedom, you need to figure out how much good and bad debts you are carrying.
Choose an appropriate repayment strategy
When you know the exact financial situation you are in, it’s time to select the right payment approach. This will be informed by the debt portfolio as well as your income. If you calculate your debt to income ration and get a figure that is beyond 20, it’s wise to consider credit counselling.
The counsellors are experienced and they will help you identify the right approach. If you can’t manage the payments on your own, a debt management program can be very effective. The main advantage is that you get a schedule that is structured depending on your financial ability. In addition, you may get lower interest rates.
You can also choose to utilize the snowball method or the ladder method. The former prioritizes the smallest outstanding balances that can be eliminated within a short time thus giving you a sense of fulfilment and motivation to continue. On the other hand, the ladder approach focuses on the balances that attract high interests so that you can avoid accumulating balances.
Organize yourself to accommodate the strategy
When you have made a resolution to follow a method of debt elimination, you need to make organizational changes. First and foremost, developing a way of maintaining your financial records is critical. This means you have to neatly file your receipts and bills for ease of progress tracking.
All your debts must be recorded in a way that indicates the strategy you have decided to follow. By doing this, you ensure that reviewing the progress is pretty fun and quick. The data should be updated on a monthly basis crossing out any eliminated debt.
Communicate effectively
Sufficient communication is important when you want to start a financial freedom journey. For people with families or spouses, this can never be overlooked. While you may be the one who came up with this idea, involving your loved ones can determine how fast you will achieve success. At first, a misunderstanding may arise due to the swift changes in your lifestyle.
Apart from your family, it’s important to maintain healthy communication with your creditors. This means that you will embrace communication if you have undergone any changes in your cash flow that can impact your payment commitment negatively. If you do this in good time, it’s possible to work something out with your creditor and protect your credit profile from suffering.
Here, communication can’t be overlooked because, in its absence, the creditors expect to receive payment as agreed. This exposes you to unnecessary risk of damaging your credit profile.
Embrace new and healthy habits
If you are serious about clearing your outstanding balances and enjoying financial freedom, you probably want it to have a lasting change. To make this a reality, you must be willing to transform the strategies you are using into a lifestyle that you’ll adapt to.
In the process of handling your credit, it’s critical that you understand the principles lying under the methods at work. You can easily achieve this by constantly tracking the overall flow of cash in your accounts and honestly seek ways to free up more dollars. Find a sweet spot and develop habits around the healthy financial principles.
When the habits become part of you, it’s almost guaranteed that your financial status will improve with time. In fact, this is also the key principle in maintaining financial freedom in your life.
Conclusion
Irrespective of the number of debts that you have at the moment, living in financial freedom is never out of reach. When you have multiple debts at once, you can use debt refinancing loan products that make payments easier to manage. With these options, you can make sure the payments are fewer and if you shop around, it’s possible to get a loan with low-interest rates.
At the end of the day, achieving satisfactory success in debt elimination boils down to finding applicable ways of lowering your expenses while at the same time increasing the income.
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